Wayzata's culinary landscape has witnessed some dramatic shifts this year. Sunsets Wayzata, a spacious lakefront restaurant that served the western suburbs for 25 years, closed in February. A few months later, 6Smith opened down the street, drawing in a similar customer base. After four months of renovations, the space that once housed Sunsets has finally reopened as CōV, an ocean-inspired restaurant by Dean Vlahos of Champps Americana and Redstone Restaurants.

The space is hardly recognizable, save for a few familiar faces among the wait staff. Sunsets' dark interior has been replaced with a light, Nantucket-inspired theme. The serving staff wear blue and white striped uniforms, large silvery fish decorate the walls, and a quotation near the kitchen reads, "To eat an oyster is to kiss the sea on the lips."

The two-person tables along the side of CōV are outfitted with comfortable striped pillows, while the rest of the seating options adhere to the light seaside color scheme. As usual, the space provides a view of Lake Minnetonka (and train tracks.)

We arrived around 4 p.m. -- too early for dinner and too late for lunch. In between its busiest meals, CōV offers a pared-down menu of some of its proudest creations.

We started with two East Coast oysters, served with horseradish, cocktail sauce, and red wine mignonette. East Coast oysters are $3 per half shell and West Coast will run you $4.

At our waitress's suggestion, we ordered the crab cake appetizer, which comes with a single cake on a bed of house-made mustard aioli sauce. The crab cake, stuffed with hefty chunks of melt-in-your-mouth crab enclosed in a crisp outer layer, delivers. It can, and perhaps should, serve as an entree, especially if you're on a budget, as one cake will run you $19.

Next up, the massive black and blue burger -- two four-ounce patties topped with honey-smoked bacon, Maytag blue cheese, caramelized onions, and leaf lettuce. The patties were on the dry side, but the classic blue cheese and bacon flavor combination carried the sandwich. At $14, it's definitely enough to fill you up.

On our next visit, we'll be sure to stop by during dinner hours to sample CōV's prosciutto mac and cheese -- if we can get in, that is. By the time we left at 5 p.m., the line was out the door. Though CōV's prices are steep, the space makes for a great date-night splurge spot, especially if you're in the mood for from-scratch seafood items with a lakeside view.